Indian Government Rejects Musk’s Claim ‘Oligarchs’ Are Blocking Starlink Launch

0:28This episode is brought to you by Indeed. India's government on Thursday dismissed Elon Musk's claims that certain oligarchs were blocking the rollout of a Starlink satellite internet service in the country and said it has put fair and non-discriminatory regulations in place to approve satellite communication services. In an official response from India's Ministry of Communications that omitted explicit reference to Musk, authorities addressed online posts alleging regulatory bias in the approval process. The ministry said three satellite communications operators have received telecom licenses and all of them are currently undergoing security assessment as part of the approval process.

1:13Starlink is one of the three providers who received the initial license from the government last year. The other two providers are Geo Satellite Communications, a subsidiary of India's richest man Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Geo, and OneWeb India Communications, backed by billionaire Sunil Mattal's Bharti Group. The government's statement added that all three companies are, quote, broadly the same regulatory stage, and any suggestions of unfair discriminatory regulation is, quote, baseless and misconceived. On Wednesday, Musk re-shared a post on X arguing that India needs Starlink and wrote, quote, unfortunately we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people.

2:00This is a crime against the people of India. It's unclear if Musk's post was meant to be a dig at either Ambani or Mittal, however, both Airtel and Geo had last year announced agreements with SpaceX to offer Starlink satellite internet services to their customers after it receives government approval. Both companies said they will explore selling Starlink equipment through their retail and online storefronts. For more on this story, check out the article at the link in the description.

2:50We'll be right back.

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